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Thursday, June 28, 2012

This Week in Sports: June 28, 2012

I warned everyone last week that we were headed into the doldrums of the sports calendar. But, contrary to the name, the Wild Banshee is a creature of habit. So here comes the weekly update.

The Week That Was:

NBA:As I type this, the NBA draft is under way. With the first pick in the draft, the New Orleans Hornets selected Anthony Davis from the University of Kentucky. This pick carried about as much suspense as waiting to see if the sun will rise in the East again tomorrow. Aside from Anthony Davis, none of these young guys better get too excited about the city that drafted them. No trades can officially take place in the NBA until this weekend, so it's hard to know who will really end up where once all the chips fall and trades can be finalized.

Nadal suffers the agony of defeat. (Getty Images)

Wimbledon: The 3rd Grand Slam event of the year is underway. Only two rounds are in the books, but two of the biggest names in tennis have already been eliminated. In the ladies draw, Venus Williams was knocked out in the first round. Williams, a 5-time Wimbledon champion, was beaten in straight sets by Elena Visnina. Although there is a great fame disparity between the two, this was not really a stunning upset. Venus Williams is now 32 years old. She's a virtual Methuselah in the tennis world. Williams has also been struggling with a series of injuries and a recently diagnosed auto-immune disorder.

The real shocker came on the gentlemen's side of the draw. Rafael Nadal was beaten in the second round by Lukas Rosol. Nadal is in the peak of his career, and earlier this month, he won his 11th Grand Slam title at the French Open. Today he was beaten by the 100th ranked player in the world. The big winner in all of this is likely to be Andy Murray. Now that Nadal is knocked out of Murray's side of the draw, the path is cleared for the Scottsman to make a run to the finals at the All England Club.

The Week Ahead: After what I consider to be a week off for road racing, NASCAR will be under the lights this weekend in Kentucky. Other than that, the featured sporting events of the week ahead will be croquet tournaments and corn hole matches at 4th of July cookouts.